


favorite

by cautiouslyoptimistic



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 09:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10919451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cautiouslyoptimistic/pseuds/cautiouslyoptimistic
Summary: she's tightlipped about her favorite things so kara finds out about them in other waysor, kara gets to know lena through the things she loves





	favorite

**Author's Note:**

> this consists of a few prompts. i spent forever trying to make them each separate stories but couldn't so i hope this'll do

It’s during their second interview that Kara learns Lena has a terrible snacking habit.

Her massive desk has a well hidden drawer—one that Kara missed the first time she x-ray visioned the office, much to her chagrin—filled to the brim with energy bars, trail mixes, crackers, and expensive chocolates Kara’s never even heard of, maintained and supplied by the very perceptive Jess who is well aware of her boss’s unfortunate tendency to forget several meals in a row and insists on at least ensuring that the CEO subsists on snacks at the very minimum.

Kara spends the hour Jess has painstakingly fit into Lena’s schedule smiling as she watches Lena pull out a bag of trail mix, snacking through every question, chewing thoughtfully as she ponders how to respond to the inquiries into her family.

“Oh no,” she murmurs, after asking Kara to try the dried cranberries, informing her that they’re her favorite and that she wants Kara to try them too, “I don’t think my mother was working with Lex before. I think his going mad was what broke her. She was never quite shy about being obvious for her preference for Lex.” Lena stops, digs through the mix for a moment, searching for any chocolate—something Kara’s noticed is the first to go—and shakes her head. “Can we leave that off the record, Kara? I just…let’s talk about something else.”

And Kara nods, promises to leave out any mention of Lex and Lillian (focusing only on Lionel), and accepts the cranberries, trying hard not to blush at the smile Lena sends her way when she agrees it’s likely her favorite part of the trail mix as well.

(From that day forward, Kara always checks the secret drawer, letting Jess know on the sly if Lena’s stores were running low—much to the assistant’s pleasant surprise.)

 

x

 

Jess calls their weekly lunches ‘dates,’ smirking a little whenever Kara ducks her head and shushes her, simultaneously trying to hide her blush and deny the claim. But the lunches (not _dates_ ) do what coffee and interviews can’t: very quickly Kara learns that Lena is fond of the health food craze, gushing about kale and quinoa and chia seeds (“They’re good for you, Kara, tasting it won’t _kill_ you”) and laughing whenever Kara scrunches her nose in distaste, complaining heartily until Lena caves and goes with Kara to the nearest diner to order a greasy burger and an extra large side of fries.

While Kara is busy eating her fill of trans fats and more than a human’s daily recommended amount of sodium, Lena tells her that she started eating the way she does back at MIT, finding that she felt better and could focus longer when she stopped eating cold pizza after long days in a makeshift lab with Jack (a name that crops up often enough that Kara is curious, but not yet confident enough in her friendship with Lena to question her about) and drinking heavily whenever forced to deal with her family.

But soon Lena makes concessions. Along with her salads, she admits that she can have more than one guilty pleasure (the other being the chocolates she favors while working, the coffee she admits she cant’ live without). And so she steals the occasional fry off Kara’s plate, laughing wen Kara painstakingly cuts a potsticker in half, just to make sure Lena will eat some. In return, however, Kara tries green smoothies that make her want to gag, chewing through leafy meals with a too-wide smile on her face for it to be real.

(The first time Alex notices the food sharing, she frowns.

The second time, her eyebrows rise.

The third time, she avoids Maggie’s eyes and purses her lips, as if she’s trying hard not to laugh.)

But, as their lunch dates occur with more regularity, Kara finds herself not minding the health foods as much. It’s not as if she grows to like the food or that she understands Lena’s enthusiasm.

Simply, it means watching Lena laugh, and Kara would suffer through anything green if it means seeing that.

 

x

 

On one memorable occasion, and entirely by accident _honestly_ , Kara learns that Lena likes it when Kara rubs circles into the back of Lena’s hand.

James crosses his arms and gives her a dubious look when she tells him about it, not quite buying her excuses for taking Lena’s hand (and most definitely not buying her excuses for rubbing soft patterns into Lena’s skin). He tells her he’s not equipped to deal with ‘this’ (though he doesn’t say what ‘this’ is) and calls Alex over to ‘be the one to deal with it.’

Lena had come over, Kara explains gently and slowly to Alex, not wanting her to react like James. They’d planned an afternoon of stress baking—“That’s ridiculous, Kara,” Alex interrupts, “I know _you_ can’t bake and I’d pay good money to see Lena freaking Luthor attempting to bake”—and after their fourth ruined attempt, Lena had collapsed onto a stool and had deemed it to be a hopeless cause. And Kara, being a good friend, _clearly_ , had reached out and taken Lena’s hand, shaking her head and telling her no, they could still do this. (“Kara,” Alex began bracingly, clearly wanting to interrupt again, but Kara speaks over her, hurrying over this next part, knowing this was where she lost James.) Lena had looked at her with a strange expression, and completely without thought, Kara had gently run her thumb over Lena’s knuckles, doing it again when Lena’s shoulder’s seemed to relax.

(She loses Alex when she explains that they gave up baking entirely after that, Lena remaining on her stool and Kara leaning against the wood of her table, not once letting go of Lena’s hand or ceasing her ministrations.

“I’m not equipped to deal with this either,” Alex says, holding up her hands. “You’ve got to talk to Maggie, she’s the expert.”)

What Kara doesn’t tell James or Alex (or even Maggie after attempting to get through her story in between all of Maggie’s laughter and glances at Alex) is that though that was the first time the ‘hand incident’ occurred, it most definitely wasn’t the last.

Because after that, Kara uses any excuses to take Lena’s hand, and Lena finds any excuse to allow it.

 

x

 

It was shortly after Maggie and Alex had exchanged ‘I love you’s’ that movie night was expanded to include Maggie. When Alex questioned her about it, Kara rolled her eyes and bluntly stated that Maggie was in a ‘trial period,’ that she could always be banned, and that no matter how many times she said ‘I love you’ she would _not_ be invited to sister night which was Alex and Kara’s and theirs alone.

(The truth is Kara thinks Maggie is becoming a lot more permanent a lot quicker than anyone thought, and she wants to know her, wants to maybe one day see her as a another sister—and _perhaps_ invite her to sister night though likely not. Kara is resistant to change and she especially hates change involving her relationship with her sister.)

Inviting Maggie to movie night, however, had the unintended consequence of leaving Kara consistently outvoted when it came to choosing movies (her preferred method of arm wrestling Alex for the honor of choosing becoming moot when Alex and Maggie decided ‘democracy’ was better than ‘brute force’). So Kara has the brilliant idea of expanding movie night once more, this time with Lena, only realizing her mistake when she gets outvoted 3-1 the very first time Lena comes over.

Because, as luck would have it, Lena _loves_ action movies.

Kara’s protests of ‘don’t you see enough action already?’ goes ignored except for Maggie waggling her eyebrows at Alex, and Lena admits there’s a sort of thrill to watching a well-timed explosion on her television. (“I don’t like violence, but I _love_ special effects,” she says, grinning when Kara groans and Alex chuckles heartedly.)

And if Kara spends more time watching Lena brighten every time something even mildly interesting happens on screen (she loves more than just explosions, especially fond of movies with magic or dinosaurs or the supernatural) it’s really nobody’s business but her own.

(And Maggie’s, she finds out after their fourth movie night with Lena, when Maggie loiters behind as Lena and Alex gather their things to leave, elbowing Kara in the side, waggling her eyebrows, and pointing to Lena’s retreating back.

She’s invited to the next sister night—on the provision that Kara can always rescind the invitation should she want to spend it alone with Alex.)

 

x

 

Supergirl is the one who discovers Lena’s a _voracious_ reader.

It’d happened shortly after an attempt on Lena’s life—the first one in months, something Jess is sure to mention when Kara lands on the balcony lightly, stepping into Lena’s office with her signature smile and pose. There’d been a disgruntled employee who’d found a way to contact Lex, which of course led to an attempt that Kara had managed to stop just in time (not for the first time, fear sneaking its way into her chest at the very thought of losing Lena).

And while Jess smiled at Kara (or Supergirl, rather), mumbling out some sort of thank you for saving her boss before leaving the office, Kara’s eyes are glued to Lena, finding herself frowning at what she sees.

Because Lena is curled on the couch, a _blanket_ tossed over her shoulders, a book open in her lap. She’s wearing glasses, a glass of wine in her hands, hair falling messily over her shoulders.

And it’s not the first time Kara’s thought it, but it takes her by surprise anyway: Lena is _beautiful_.

(Lena looks up and smiles at Kara, admitting she reads as often as she can, that she tends to wait till she gets home—but seeing as though her apartment had been trashed she’d had to make do with her office. She tells Kara about her favorite novels, from gripping mysteries to thick classics, blushing a little as she divulges that fantasy novels have a special place in her heart. Her voice drops to barely a whisper when she points towards where Jess is likely at her desk, furiously working on getting Lena a place to stay without alerting the media, and shares that she often gets her assistant to buy books—even going as far as to ask her to track down editions that Lena prefers.

And so Kara shares too. She talks about the books her family used to teach her English, the ones she took refuge in when she was scared and alone—especially after Alex went off to college—and the books she reads now to help relax her when things get too overwhelming and Alex has forbidden her from watching _Orphan Black_ without her—“You spoil _everything,_ Kara, you have no filter.”

And after that night, Kara—as Supergirl—sometimes drops by L-Corp without seeing Lena at all, leaving books she thinks will interest the CEO with Jess, ignoring the assistant’s narrowed eyes and suspicious glances and her very pointed comments that Lena was ‘spending the next morning with _Kara Danvers_ , did you know, Supergirl?’

She does know, and she can’t help her smile the next morning when she arrives at Lena’s apartment to walk to the café they’d wanted to try these ‘super’ muffins at and Lena’s first thought is to drag Kara to the new bookcase she’s set up full of all the books Supergirl has brought her.)

 

x

 

Lena likes nature documentaries.

Now, at first, Kara thought it was because Lena’s a nerd. (She is, there’s no denying or doubting it, the woman enjoyed spending her rare free nights in her lab or scrolling through the latest published research on a whole host of topics, from medicine to sociology. And it’s _refreshing_. None of Kara’s friends are stupid by any means—Winn is a literal whizz at all things technological and Kara’s rather sure there’s no better doctor than Alex—but Lena is a certified genius, and it’s almost like being back on Krypton and talking with her father and other members of the Science Guild.) So she’s understandably shocked that Lena doesn’t actually _watch_ the documentaries—a fact she learns when she mentions the last one they’d watched on marine animals and Lena can’t remember _anything_ about the seals Kara had fallen in love with. So Kara pays more attention to Lena the next time she puts on a documentary, and to her shock, much like she herself does with the action movies, Lena spends the entire time staring intently at Kara.

It’s…flattering.

She confronts Lena about it (“It’s just you get so excited, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile as wide as when you see a bird on your TV screen. It’s cute”) and ends up not minding at all that Lena likes the documentaries because Kara likes them.

Instead, she uses it to her advantage. During the next movie night, Lena votes with her, and Maggie—grinning and winking at Kara—votes along with them, much to Alex’s disappointment.

It would’ve gone completely fine, a tactic she’d use more often, had Lena not leaned towards her halfway through the documentary and whispered, “You know, it’s almost as if you’d never even _heard_ of lions before.”

(“Yeah, Kara,” Alex says petulantly, crossing her arms and grimacing a little as the lion on the screen finally reaches the gazelle it’s been hunting. “It’s almost as if this is _alien_ to you.”

Later, long after Kara’s spluttered indignation at the not-so-subtle comment and Maggie and Lena’s not-so-subtle laughter, Alex will roll her eyes and tell Kara Lena had known about Kara’s secret since _at least_ their failed baking day.)

 

x

 

She loves the color blue.

She says so one day when Supergirl lands on her balcony (only a few days before Alex finally puts Kara out of her misery and tells her Lena knows her secret), stepping over to her and dragging a finger over the blue material of Kara’s suit, leaving a strange trail of warmth in her wake. Her eyes never waver from Kara’s as she speaks, talking about blue skies and blue oceans and a vague memory of a blue bedroom (a stark difference from the appropriately beige room she’d had after being adopted by the Luthors) and a pair of blue eyes she claims she dreams about rather often.

And when she asks Kara what _her_ favorite color is, Kara finds herself stupidly mumbling she isn’t sure, as Lena’s eyes never seem to be able to decide whether they’re green or gray.

 

x

 

She learns that Lena’s a cuddler.

No matter how they fall asleep, Lena inevitably finds her way towards Kara, curling around her, their limbs tangled, Lena’s head tucked securely in the junction between Kara’s shoulder and neck.

She learns that Lena’s favorite thing to do when she wakes up—normally at ungodly early hours, a travesty if she’s ever heard of one—is press kisses along Kara’s jaw, the little breath she releases when she reaches Kara’s lips and Kara kisses back sounding a lot like relief (as if she still can’t believe what’s happening is real, something that always makes Kara kiss her a little more insistently, suddenly not minding that the sun’s barely up).

She learns that Lena can cook, and she loves it when Kara approaches her from behind and wraps her arms around her, pressing light kisses to Lena’s shoulder and neck.

She learns that even while Lena’s working—busy and tired and even a little grumpy—she _always_ wants Kara near her in some capacity, whether it’s a picture on her phone, their feet brushing though they sit on opposite ends of the couch (both of them engrossed in work, laptops in laps and papers strewn about, empty tea cups on the coffee table), or a slight brush of Kara’s lips against Lena’s forehead before she rushes out to attend to Supergirl business.

She learns that Lena refuses to go to bed without her, falling asleep on the couch, and sinking into Kara’s embrace when she returns and gently carries Lena to their bedroom.

She learns that Lena loves her jokes.

Her habit of fiddling with her glasses.

The dramatic swoosh of her cape when she lands on L-Corp’s balcony.

Her passion for all things ‘N Sync.

The way she leans into Lena’s kisses.

Her smile when she introduces Lena to Eliza as her girlfriend.

(She learns that Lena’s favorite thing in the world is Kara.

It’s a relief, really. Lena is Kara’s favorite thing, too.

Though if Alex asks, it’s most definitely a tie.)


End file.
